


Pressure Cooker

by embroiderama



Series: Pressure [2]
Category: White Collar RPF
Genre: Angst, Exhaustion, Fainting, Food, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 22:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embroiderama/pseuds/embroiderama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt is fully committed to filming both <i>White Collar</i> and <i>The Normal Heart</i>, and it eventually becomes too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pressure Cooker

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the [White Collar RPF Meme](http://embroiderama.livejournal.com/570173.html) for my own prompt. I am not ashamed. It’s also a sequel to [Pressure Points](http://embroiderama.livejournal.com/554267.html), though you don’t particularly need to read that one first.

_White Collar_ filming had reached a point where the script had Neal and Peter separated by The Powers That Be, and Tim had rarely identified with Peter more because the necessity of working in different locations and different times meant that Tim and Matt were separated as well. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if they were seeing each other outside of work but they weren’t, and Tim wasn’t sure what he could or should do to change that.

Two weeks ago, Matt had been tired and stressed, but he had let Tim in. He had stayed the night in Tim’s arms, and that didn’t fix everything but Tim had thought it made things a little better. A little more bearable. A week ago, Matt had uncharacteristically snapped at Tim with a few choice comments about not needing a babysitter, and since then they’d barely seen each other. Tim was doing his best not to take it personally, and he wasn’t worried about their ability to work together long-term, but he was glad when the new script pages he received included a scene with Peter and Neal working together again.

Tim had been hoping to get Matt to himself for a few minutes before they began working that afternoon, but Matt ended up running late, stuck in cross-town traffic from a morning shoot with _The Normal Heart_. Matt arrived at the brownstone they were filming inside and was rushed through hair, makeup and wardrobe while the crew shot some of Tim’s coverage, so there wasn’t time for more than brief greetings before they got to work.

“I’m sorry about—you know,” Matt murmured.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You doing okay?”

“I’m good.” Matt nodded, and if Tim didn’t like the thin, worn look of his face, well, Matt had made it clear that wasn’t Tim’s business.

“Good to hear,” Tim said, then the director came over to chat with them, and it was time to work.

Tim had hoped that working with Matt again, seeing him, would help him to stop worrying so much but just a half-hour into filming Tim was struggling to stay in character and meet his marks when all he wanted to do was keep an eye on Matt. It was difficult to tell with the layer of makeup, but he looked pale around the eyes, and Neal’s trademark swagger was nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, they were on take three of what should be a simple one-take scene, Neal providing background on the missing artwork in question from his never-ending font of knowledge.

Matt blew the line for the third time, mixing half of the correct line in with half a line from down the page, and he sighed in frustration at himself. “Fuck fuck fuck.”

“Hey—“ Tim reached out, but Matt pulled away.

“Can I—“ He shook his head. “I’m sorry everybody. Can I have a few minutes to get my head outta my ass?”

“Take ten everybody,” the director said, and Matt walked over to stand by a window overlooking the street.

The room they were working in was borderline stifling, the elderly air conditioning struggling to keep up with the heat of the people and the equipment and the constant traffic in and out. Tim went out to stand on the front stoop for a few minutes, and he was thinking about going over to talk to some fans who were watching from across the street when he heard a crash from inside. Somebody shrieked, “Oh my God!” and Tim ran inside, not quite remembering the moments it took to get back to the room where Matt was sitting on the floor with one leg folded awkwardly underneath him. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes half-closed, a haphazard pile of equipment cases next to him.

“What happened?” Tim asked as he knelt down next to Matt.

“M’okay,” Matt said, his voice weak as he tried to push himself up.

“I don’t think so.” Tim moved to hold him down, but it wasn’t necessary; Matt slumped back down with a hand to his head.

Rob, one of the lighting guys, tapped Tim on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m pretty sure he passed out there for a minute.”

Tim nodded. “The medic?”

“On her way.”

Tim put a hand on Matt’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. “How bad is it?” He kept his voice low and calm despite the edge of panic inside.

“It’s not a big deal,” Matt said, but his eyes were closed and the hand on his head was shaking.

“That’s not an acceptable answer.”

Matt sighed, and then the medic arrived with her bag, and Tim backed off. Most of the crew had cleared out of the room, but the director and Jeff King were standing several feet away and Tim walked over to join them.

“I know this is going to put a kink in the schedule, but if he has to go to the hospital I’m going with him.”

The director looked unhappy, but Jeff nodded. “I’ve been worried, but every time I checked in he said everything was fine. We’ll do what we can do here today without you two and then talk about the schedule later.”

Tim opened his mouth to thank Jeff when he heard Matt complaining weakly behind him. “I really don’t want to do that.”

Tim walked back over to see the medic packing up her bag while Matt sipped at a small bottle of Sprite. “What’s going on?”

“She wants me to go to the hospital, but I just need a few minutes. We can get back to work.”

The medic raised her eyebrows. “Mr. Bomer, do I have permission to discuss your health with Mr. DeKay?”

Matt shrugged and sighed. “Yeah, okay.”

Tim realized he was towering over Matt and the medic, and he sat down on the edge of a hard plastic case. “What’s the situation?”

“Low blood sugar,” the medic said, her voice dry. “Dehydration, but I don’t think it’s too bad. And general exhaustion. I can only check so much here, and I’m concerned this may require more than a bottle of Gatorade and a nap.”

“That sounds like hospital time to me, Matty. I’m sorry.”

“Guys?” Jeff’s voice came from above, and Tim looked up to see him hovering. “We have a car waiting right out front and a couple of trucks pulled up in the street to block the view.”

“This sucks,” Matt whispered, and Tim had to agree.

“Will you let us help you get to your feet and get out of here?”

“I really don’t want to do this.”

“I know. But we need to go.” Tim crouched down next to Matt. “Come on, let me give you a boost.”

Matt gave in and hooked one arm over Tim’s shoulder while Tim wrapped an arm around Matt’s back. They stood up slowly, and Tim held Matt steady for a minute while he swayed in place and took a few shaky breaths. Matt seemed to get stronger as they went, and as they walked out the door he pulled away just far enough to keep it from looking like Tim was carrying him. Jeff stayed on Matt’s other side, and they made it into the back of the car without any further trouble.

Tim helped Matt into the car then got in next to him as Jeff climbed into the front passenger seat. One of the trucks that had been put in place to give them some privacy moved off, and their driver pulled away from the curb. In the relatively cool and dark interior of the car, Matt slumped forward and put his head in his hands. Tim touched his back and felt him trembling slightly, then Matt moaned quietly and moved one hand to his middle while still leaning his forehead on the other hand.

“You feel sick?”

Matt nodded against his hand. “Little bit,” he added under his breath.

Tim rubbed his hand slowly up and down Matt’s back, and after a couple of minutes Matt relaxed. He covered his face with both hands again and breathed unsteadily, but it didn’t sound like nausea this time. “What’s going on?” Tim kept his hand on Matt’s back.

“I just—I need to do better than this. I thought I was doing better.”

“Give yourself permission to be human, okay?”

Matt shook his head, and Tim stopped talking; they could discuss everything when Matt was feeling better. He moved his hand up to the back of Matt’s neck and rubbed at the taut tendons there until the car pulled up to a back entrance at the hospital. A woman in scrubs met them with a wheelchair for Matt, and Tim and Jeff followed him inside. They were diverted to a small, private waiting room while Matt was taken to another room to be examined. Tim was glad that the studio had arranged it this way for the sake of Matt’s privacy, but on the other hand there were no distractions other than his phone and a handful of magazines, no room to pace.

“I sent a message to the team in LA,” Jeff said. “We’ll work something out here.”

“You’re going to have to. This isn’t sustainable.”

“I know. I’m on Matt’s side here, too.”

Tim nodded. “Sorry, I know you are. I’m just worried.” Tim pulled out his phone and looked through the contacts. “Has anybody called Simon?”

“I was trying to give Matt a chance to make that call.”

“I don’t think so.” Tim placed the call to Simon and got his voicemail, but before he could think of what message to leave his phone buzzed from Simon calling him back.

“Tim?” He said as soon as Tim managed to hit the right thing to accept the call. “What’s going on?”

“Has Matt called you?”

“Today? No, not yet. What’s happening?”

“I think he’s okay, relatively, but he’s getting checked out at the ER here.”

“Shit. Was he hurt?”

“No. He had a pretty major dizzy spell, and the medic wanted him to get checked out. He looked like hell, to be honest.”

“Damn it,” Simon said under his breath.

“I’ve tried—“

“It’s not your fault. Look, I’m going to get the soonest flight I can, but there’s no way I’m getting in before late evening your time. Call me as soon as you know more?”

“Will do.”

“Thank you.”

Tim poked at his phone for a minute then looked back up at Jeff. Neither of them had anything to say; there was nothing to do but wait. Tim had just started to think about going out in the hallway to look for somebody who could give them more information when a middle-aged woman with graying blond hair walked inside.

“Mr. DeKay and Mr. King?” They both nodded. “Nice to meet you, I’m Dr. Kutz. Okay, let’s sit down. Matt gave me permission to talk to you about his condition.”

“His condition?” That sounded bad.

She smiled and held up one hand. “It’s nothing too serious, but I’m glad he agreed to come in. His blood sugar was pretty low, especially considering he said he’d had some soda just a little while ago, so I’ve got an IV in him to get his fluids and glucose up. I have the lab running a basic blood panel to make sure there isn’t something else going on, but mostly I think he just has to accept that he has limits. If everything looks okay I’ll release him in a couple of hours, but I want somebody to stay with him for the next day in case the dizziness continues, and I want him to rest and eat some decent meals for the next few days.”

“And after that?” Tim asked.

“After that, he needs to see his regular physician, and he needs a lighter schedule. I understand that he’s working with a nutritionist to lose weight for a role? As his doctor right now, I advise against that, but he seems pretty determined. In any case, I suspect that he’s either getting bad advice or not following the advice he’s being given.”

Tim shook his head. “Great.”

“The diet plan is something he’ll have to work out with his physician and nutritionist, but for the next few days I strongly recommend that he forget whatever plan he’s on and just eat moderately.”

“Can you tell me what you’re looking for in the blood tests?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that too much. I’m having the lab check his vitamin and mineral levels, but other than that it’s just a standard blood panel that we run on half the patients who walk through the front door. Actually, I think that Matt’s general health is quite good; otherwise he would’ve had trouble well before now.”

“So that’s a good thing?” Jeff asked.

“Yes. Any other questions, gentlemen?”

Tim nodded. “Can I go sit with him?”

“I gave Matt something to help him relax, and he was falling asleep when I left him. It would be better if he rested undisturbed for right now, and the room is very secure.”

“Okay.” Jeff stood and shook the doctor’s hand. “I’m going to head back to the set to see what we can do today. Tim?”

“You said it should just be a couple hours?” He looked at the doctor, who nodded. “If he wakes up and wants somebody to wait with him or if anything else happens, somebody needs to let me know. I’ll be right here.”

“I’ll make a note of that, thank you.”

The doctor left and Jeff left, and Tim leaned back in his chair with a sigh. This was the worst part of waiting around in a hospital—feeling so goddamn useless. Still, there was at least one thing he could do, so he called Simon, who was already on his way to LAX, and updated him on the situation.

“I’m calling Ryan,” he said. “I’m going to work this out.” And Tim believed that he would.

~~~

Two hours later, Tim had talked on the phone to everybody who he needed or wanted to talk to, including one of Matt’s costars from _The Normal Heart,_ who had apparently found out his number from Simon by way of Ryan Murphy. Mark agreed to keep an eye on Matt once he was back to work on that set, and if Matt got upset about people conspiring around him Tim didn’t really care. He was starting to go nuts from boredom when a knock at the door startled him. A nurse opened the door and looked inside.

“Dr. Kutz is getting ready to discharge your friend if you want to come with me?”

“Thank you.” Tim sent a quick text to Jeff requesting a car to pick them up and walked down the hall with her, preparing himself to see Matt looking awful in a hospital gown, but he was wearing the wardrobe clothes he’d come in and they, like Matt, looked a little bit rumpled but intact. “Hey,” Tim said from the doorway.

Matt looked up from the paperwork he was signing and gave Tim a resigned smile. “Hey. Thanks for waiting.”

“You’re welcome. You would’ve done the same for me.”

Matt held Tim’s gaze for a moment then nodded his head.

“So, everything looks okay,” Dr. Kutz said, looking at Tim. “Matt knows what he needs to do. Are you going to stay with him?”

“For right now, yes. His partner is coming in this evening.”

“No,” Matt said quietly at the same time as the doctor said, “Good.”

“Is there a problem with that?” She asked.

“No, no, I just didn’t want him to worry.” Matt’s shoulders slumped down, and Tim rubbed his hand across Matt’s back.

“Well, it sounds like you’re in good hands. The discharge instructions are in the paperwork there, but I think you’ll be okay as long as you take care of yourself and let your friends help you. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Matt said. When she was gone, Matt looked over at Tim, his expression sheepish and tired. “So, this all kind of sucked. I’m sorry.”

“It could’ve sucked a lot worse.”

Matt nodded. “I’m sorry about the last week or so, too. I was just trying to do what I needed to do and keep moving, and I was afraid that if I let you in too close you’d stop me.”

“I would have.”

“I don’t know how to make this all work.” Matt pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and took a shuddery breath. “Fuck.”

Tim’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out just long enough to see that a car was waiting for them at the same door they’d come in through earlier. “Come here,” Tim said, tugging gently on Matt’s shoulder until Matt stood up from the side of the bed and stepped into Tim’s arms. Tim held him close, glad he could still feel the strength in Matt’s body. “You’re going to be okay,” Tim said quietly.

Matt put a hand between them and pushed away. “I know that.”

“Yeah, sorry. Maybe I was saying that for me.”

Matt ran a hand through his hair, looking annoyed and embarrassed and sorry and more than anything just tired. “Do we need to get a cab?”

“No, our ride’s waiting if you’re ready.”

“More than ready.”

Tim kept an eye on Matt as they walked out to the car, but he was steady now, even if he was moving more slowly than usual. They had a quiet ride to Matt’s Gramercy Square apartment, and when they got inside Tim headed for the kitchen and Matt for the couch. There wasn’t much in the fridge other than water and Matt’s nutritional shake concoction so Tim called his PA about getting some groceries delivered then found Matt’s take-out menus and made another call to have dinner delivered.

Matt napped while Tim puttered around the apartment, accepted the deliveries and put the groceries away, and when he woke up he ate most of the container of pho Tim had ordered for him. Matt groused about being treated like an invalid and argued that he was capable of going back to work in the morning, but Tim could tell his heart wasn’t in it. Matt had fallen asleep again with his head in Tim’s lap when the text came that Simon’s flight had landed.

Tim had made it through another episode of bad TV when he heard the key in the front door, and the clatter of Simon coming inside with his carry-on woke up Matt.

“Hmmmm?” Matt grumbled as he sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

“Hey, Babe,” Simon said as he came around in front of the couch. Matt stood up and all but fell into his partner’s arms.

Tim stood up, ready to make his exit now that he wasn’t needed, and Simon met his eyes over Matt’s shoulder, silently mouthing _Thank you. Thank you._

Tim locked the door behind him on his way out and decided to walk for a while before flagging down a cab back to his place. He had a feeling the next few days were going to be interesting, filming around Matt’s absence and wrangling over logistics. There were so many different people involved, so many different agendas and it was easy to forget that there was a human being in the middle of it all. This time, Tim thought, they weren’t going to be allowed to forget again.


End file.
